Old Meath hoodoo still holds them back

Somebody has the evil eye on Meath when it comes to matches with Derry. It's 20 years since they last beat the northerners in a league match at Navan and, yesterday, with just seconds remaining and Graham Geraghty - the team's unquestioned inspiration - bearing down on goal, you'd have put your mortgage on them breaking the hoodoo.

But no, Geraghty was guilty of an atrocious wide and, consequently, the sides finished level. It was a result that helped neither side.

Derry, who beat Meath in a replay in last year's league final, remain on the fringes but with work to do in their quest to make the knock-out phase. Meath, meanwhile, can concentrate their forces on breaking clear of the relegation logjam at the foot of the table.

It was a pity that Geraghty should be the culprit of that late miss. His duel with Derry full back Kevin McCloy was the feature of a dour, scrappy match that nevertheless held our attentions right to the end. McCloy - one of five Derrymen to be booked by referee Paddy Russell - pulled off some marvellous overhead catches, while Geraghty was back to his old self, fired-up and competitive and rowing in with some fine free-taking into the bargain.

The stiff wind that blew directly into the town-end goalmouth was a factor and Derry, with the advantage in the firsthalf, didn't really make the most of it. In a tit-for-tat opening period, there were times when all but the two goalkeepers seemed to be cluttered into the area around the field between the two 45-metre lines.

During this time, there was very little open football and so it was that Peter O'Kane's superbly taken point in the very first minute proved to be best of all. A bit like getting the dessert before the entree.

Indeed, an indication of the clastrophobic nature of the rest of the half is that only three further scores came from open play - O'Kane again and Conleth Gilligan for Derry, Nigel Nestor for Meath - as free-takers dominated. By the break, Derry had edged into a 0-6 to 0-4 lead that didn't look any way sufficient.

A superb Derry move three minutes into the second-half made us think again. Paul McFlynn, the Derry wing back who was the most accomplished player on the field, moved forward to get on the end of a move that also involved Anthony Tohill and Enda Muldoon to open up a three point lead.

But it didn't inspire confidence and Derry only to came to life again when that lead was eroded. Meath's fightback started with a simple point from Donal Curtis, who took advantage of a poor clearance from Sean Martin Lockhart.

After that, it was vintage Geraghty. A couple of weeks ago, in losing to Cavan, Geraghty was a pale shadow of himself. Yesterday, he rolled up the sleeves, fought hard for possession, used it wisely and produced some splendid free kicks.

The pick of them came in the 51st minute when, 40 metres out and three metres from the sideline, he used the wind to perfection to curl the ball over the bar.

Two further frees, of the more straight-forward variety, followed as Geraghty steered Meath into the lead for the first time in the 58th minute.

In fact, Meath started to play some rather exotic football on such a cold day and one move in particular (involving no less than seven players) finished with Mark O'Reilly shooting a wide that didn't appear that costly.

Yet, with five minutes remaining, Derry - who hadn't scored for the previous 27 minutes - struck. Tohill, who knew he was having a good game because of the amount of booing he received from the Meath supporters whenever he got the ball, drilled a free into the wind and into the clutches of substitute Dermot Dougan who swiftly pointed to level matters.

Neither side managed to score again, although Geraghty's gilt edged opportunity to snatch victory in the final moments is one that he would rather forget.

MEATH: C Sullivan; M O'Reilly, D Fay, C Murphy; P Reynolds, A Moyles, H Traynor; D Kealy, N Nestor (0-1); E Kelly, P Shankey, N McKeigue; R Kealy (0-1, free), G Geraghty (0- 5, all frees), D Curtis (0-1).

DERRY: M Conlon; A Heaney, K McCloy, P Carton; G Coleman, S Lockhart, P McFlynn (0- 1); A Tohill (0-2, frees), P Murphy; P O'Kane (0-2), D Heaney, C Gilligan (0-1); P Bradley (0-1, free), E Muldoon, J McBride. Subs: K McKeever for A Heaney (27 mins), D Dougan (0-1) for Murphy (43), R Rocks for Gilligan (58), N Covery for D Heaney (66).

Referee: P Russell (Tipperary).